Daily Berminal Brief (8/08/18): Crypto Market Hits 2018 Low

The State of the Market: It’s been a harrowing week for cryptocurrency investors, with the overall crypto market capitalization losing just over $50 billion over the last 7 days. The last 24 hours haven’t been much different — with Bitcoin (BTC) falling over 7% down to $6,300 and Ethereum (ETH) hovering at the $360 price level after a similar loss of 7% on the day. Virtually no coins were spared today’s market onslaught with all top ten cryptos solidly in the red.

1) Yesterday’s unexpected correction has brought the cryptocurrency market capitalization to its lowest valuation for 2018. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) decision to postpone their decision on bitcoin ETF applications could have possibly been the catalyst that set off the most recent pullback. Currently, the total market capitalization of the cryptocurrency market is at $228.6 billion which is the lowest level seen since November 2017. Postponement of the BTC-ETF decision is thought to be the main catalyst behind the bitcoin correction, but the majority of altcoins are also touching new yearly lows and the increase in the bitcoin dominance rate it interpreted as being indicative of investors transition into bitcoin and possibly fiat currencies (read more).

2) According to a recent blog post, tech giant Microsoft recently integrated a proof-of-authority (PoA) algorithm on its Ethereum (ETH) blockchain product on its cloud platform Azure. The new algorithm will supposedly facilitate “more efficient” decentralized application (dApp) development where “all consensus participants are known and reputable.” The new PoA algorithm, which will supplant the current proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism, does not require competition in completing the transactions, and is based on the principle of approved identities or validators on a blockchain. The new product on Azure features a number of security-focused development tools like an identity leasing system, Parity’s web-assembly support, Azure Monitor, and a Governance dApp (read more).

3) Bitmain, the world’s preeminent crypto mining hardware producer, recently put a new product on the market: a Wi-Fi router capable of mining cryptocurrencies. Bitmain plans to release two device versions, the Antrouter R3-DASH wish mines Dash Coin and the Antrouter R3-SIA, which mints Siacoin (SC). The first batch of these units will reportedly be sold at a discount price of $58. Bitmain is a Chinese company that is currently valued at $14 billion and has reported a profit of $1.1 billion USD in the first quarter of this year (read more).